Lickitung Line/HGSS
Lickitung can be found as an uncommon encounter on Route 44 or at the Safari Zone, specifically in the Mountain area of the latter. Lickitung was one of those Pokemon that nobody ever wanted to use. It had some hidden potential, but was often overlooked due to its unfortunately low base stats. Then Generation IV came around, introducing several new evolutions to old friends, such as Magmortar, Electivire, and, of course, Lickilicky. An excellent base stat increase with its evolution, an astounding movepool, and rather well-balanced stats may make Lickilicky a rather useful partner in the Johto remakes. Important Matchups * Eusine (Cianwood City): * Gym #5 - Chuck (Cianwood City, Fighting-type): * Gym #6 - Jasmine (Olivine City, Steel-type): Your Lickitung should really be evolved by now. If so, then this fight will be easy, as the line can learn Flamethrower, OHKOing the Magnemites and 2HKOing the Steelix, which cannot kill with a crit. If Lickilicky's Special Attack IVs or nature are not so good, you might want Dig. Steelix might be harder, but you can make it. * Petrel (Team Rocket HQ): Ice Beam Zubat, throw a special move at Koffing and do anything at Raticate. Everything is either OHKOed or 2HKOed and they can't hit for anything. * Ariana (Team Rocket HQ, tag battle with Lance): Dig Arbork, Ice Beam Gloom and Murkrow. Man we are really overleveled. * Gym #7 - Pryce (Mahogany Town, Ice-type): Lickilicky's Thunderbolt is a 2HKO to Seel and Dewgong, and Flamethrower Piloswine for a 3HKO because it cannot OHKO you even with a crit, although you should hold an Aspear Berry, as freezing can really snow on your parade. * Petrel (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Yeesh. All of his Pokemon can explode, which has a high chance to kill if it crits, while all of Lickilicky's special attacks can only 2HKO. Better leave it to somebody else. * Rival (Goldenrod Underground): Golbat drops after 2 Ice Beams or Thunderbolts and can't hit you for anything. Magnemite is OHKOed by Flamethrower. Haunter is 2HKOed by any of the elemental beams or Surf or OHKOed by Shadow Ball if you have the slot, although it can still use Curse, so be careful. It can't directly do damage though, so Lickilicky is still not endangered. The combination of Flamethrower's guaranteed 2HKO chance and Faint Attack's embarrassing damage output means that Sneasel is dead meat. The same can also be said for Feraligatr and Quilava, although it's with Thunderbolt and Surf respectively instead (duh). Meganium's Petal Dance does deal more damage, but Flamethrower still 2HKOs it. * Proton (Goldenrod Radio Tower): His Golbat is weaker than Silver's. Decimate it. Weezing's strongest attack, Sludge, 6HKOes, while Lickilicky's special attacks are a 3HKO. Go wild. * Ariana (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Arbok deals very little damage, and Lickilicky can 3HKO it, so go for it. Vileplume gets 2HKOed and Murkrow gets OHKOed, and neither of them can significantly damage it. Destroy them. * Archer (Goldenrod Radio Tower): Lickilicky's Surf has a high chance to OHKO, and Houndour has no chance of beating it outside of flinching it constantly. The same can be said to Koffing and Houndoom, although they're 2HKOs this time around. * Gym #8 - Clair (Blackthorn City, Dragon-type): Lickilicky can have Thunderbolt to deal with Gyarados - use it. It can survive with a sliver of health, but it can't do much damage. Both Dragonairs can't really do anything to you, with Dragon Pulse dealing not too much damage and Ice Beam 2HKOing them both. Kingdra can be dangerous - its crit Hyper Beam and Hydro Pump deals boatloads of damage: 0 SpA Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Lickilicky on a critical hit: 114-135 (74.5 - 88.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO. Yeah. If it makes you feel better, a lot of things can't reliably deal with it. If you want Lickilicky to deal with it, teach it Return and hope Kingdra never crits. Ever. * Kimono Girls (Ecruteak Dance Theater): Ehhh. Umbreon's gonna take a while, as its best move, Return only has a chance to 3HKO. However, you can give Lickilicky the SubPunch combo, as Umbreon can only 6HKO it. If so, you can 2HKO it. Espeon is quite safe to fight - its Psychic is only able to 3HKO it, and Return 2HKO it. Flareon gets 2HKOed by Surf, Dig or Return, but its Flame Blast can 3HKO it. Be careful. The same can be said for Jolteon and Vaporeon, but not Surf and Dig for Vaporeon. * Ho-Oh (Bell Tower, HeartGold only): You'll want Rock Tomb for this: it'll 3HKO, and it'll also drop Ho-Oh's Speed, which can be useful to land the third hit. If not, stay away - its Sacred Fire will 3HKO. * Lugia (Whirl Islands, SoulSilver only): Lugia is too much for Lickilicky sadly. * Rival (Victory Road): Sneasel is laughably easy, as either Flamethrower or Return has a chance to OHKO and Faint Attack has a chance to 7HKO. Golbat is 2HKOed by Thunderbolt and Magneton... you have access to Earthquake now. Kadabra is also OHKOed by Earthquake, and both Haunter and the starters are same as last time. * Elite Four Will (Indigo Plateau, Psychic-type): Both Xatus and Slowbro gets 2HKOed by Thunderbolt. Exeggutor and Jynx gets 2HKOed by Flamethrower. Just cruisin' it. * Elite Four Koga (Indigo Plateau, Poison-type): Ariados has a high chance to be destroyed by Flamethrower and Forretress gets OHKOed. Crobat, Muk and Venomoth gets 2HKOed by Thunderbolt/Ice Beam, Earthquake and Flamethrower respectively. Man this is kinda easy. * Elite Four Bruno (Indigo Plateau, Fighting-type): You can fight Hitmonchan and Onix as they don't have Fighting moves. The others are... no, just no. * Elite Four Karen (Indigo Plateau, Dark-type): Her Umbreon is a stall war to be honest, unless you use the SubPunch combo. Vileplume and Murkrow gets 2HKOed and OHKOed by Ice Beam respectively. Gengar has Destiny Bond. Don't try. Houndoom has a small chance to be OHKOed by Earthquake, but it also carries Nasty Plot, so be careful. * Champion Lance (Indigo Plateau, Flying-type): His Gyarados is the same as Clair's. Decimate it. All of his Dragonites can be 2HKOed by Ice Beam, although their Dragon Rush 3HKOs Lickilicky. Should you want to defeat all 3, use a healing item. Both Charizard and Aerodactyl gets 2HKOed by Thunderbolt and you still have healing items. Slaughter 'em. Kanto From this point onwards, you can fight the gyms in any order, though you will need to retrieve the Machine Parts from the Cerulean City gym before you have access to the earlier portion of Kanto. Feel free to anticipate or postpone any battles as needed. * Gym #9 - Brock (Pewter City, Rock-type): Lickilicky can OHKO Graveler and Rhyhorn without breaking a sweat, since it outspeeds them both. While it can't outspeed Onix, it still OHKOs it. It can 2HKO both fossils, but they outspeed, so just keep Lickilicky over half health and you will be fine. * Rival (Mt. Moon, optional): * Gym #10 - Misty (Cerulean City, Water-type): * Gym #11 - Lt. Surge (Vermilion City, Electric-type): * Gym #12 - Erika (Celadon City, Grass-type): * Gym #13 - Janine (Fuchsia City, Poison-type): * Gym #14 - Sabrina (Saffron City, Psychic-type): * Gym #15 - Blaine (Seafoam Islands, Fire-type): * Gym #16 - Blue (Viridian City): * Rival (Indigo Plateau, optional): * Red (Mt. Silver): Moves If caught at its earliest possible level in the Safari Zone, Lickitung will know Lick, Supersonic, Defense Curl, and Knock Off. All four of these moves are useless in the long run. Wrap at level 17 is just as bad. Lickitung does learn Stomp at level 21, which does give it some decent STAB, but will not maintain a permanent moveslot once TMs and other such moves are found. Disable at level 25 and Slam at level 29 will not really see use at all, since the former requires a bit of planning and the latter has poor accuracy. Finally, at level 33, Lickitung learns Rollout, which you should immediately learn, because Rollout is the key for Lickitung to evolve into Lickilicky. As for whether or not you want to keep the move, chances are that it's not really worth it, since it does keep Lickilicky trapped in battle, which may trap it in a perilous situation. Me First comes at level 37, which is a joke because "haha lickilicky moving first". Refresh and Screech at level 41 and 45 are fairly useless and will likely not see a permanent moveslot. At level 49, Lickilicky learns an actual good move in the form of Power Whip, which could see some great use in any set that uses physical attacks. Wring Out, at level 53, is a pretty good leading move, allowing Lickilicky to hit the ground running with a base 121 power STAB attack, although you will want another strong attack to finish off a weakened foe. Finally, at level 57, Lickilicky will learn Gyro Ball, which is extremely useful with Lickilicky's low Speed stat. Lickilicky's TM capabilities are rather astounding for such an often-forgotten Pokemon, although many of them have major restrictions on their attainability, restricting Lickilicky's options. To start, a Special Attack-oriented Lickilicky can learn and use all three of the Goldenrod Game Corner elemental attacks, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower. However, because it may take such a long time to farm the coins required for the TMs, Lickilicky may opt to use the Department Store substitutes, Blizzard, Thunder, and Fire Blast. Surf is another great option, giving Lickilicky some overworld utility as well as an attack with a solid base power. On to physical attacks, Return will be Lickilicky's best STAB attack, with a solid base power of 107 with maximum friendship. Earthquake is an option as well, although one that doesn't come until Victory Road, as well as being a contested single-use TM. Rock Slide also becomes an option once Brock goes down, although Rock Tomb can substitute for it until then. For bulk, Lickilicky 'can' learn Toxic, but only if you take part in the Battle Frontier and buy the TM for BP. Substitute, fortunately, doesn't fall under the same boat, being purchased at the Goldenrod Game Corner, giving Lickilicky a chance to utilize its large health pool to support itself or teammates. Recommended movesets: '' * ''Physical: Return/Wring Out, Power Whip, Gyro Ball, Earthquake/Rock Slide/Rock Tomb * Special: Surf, Ice Beam/Blizzard, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Flamethrower/Fire Blast * Postgame Bulky: Return, Toxic, Substitute, one other move Recommended Teammates (Pokémon that work well on the same team with the one being analyzed) Other Lickitung's stats Lickilicky's stats * What Nature do I want? A Speed-reducing nature would work perfectly with Lickilicky, since it won't be outspeeding much anyways, and a reduced Speed stat will increase the power of its Gyro Ball. Licklicky can also live with one of its offensive stats reduced, although that may force it into a specific offensive archetype if you're running an attacking set on it. * Which Ability do I want? Own Tempo is definitely the preferred ability, preventing total immunity to Confusion, as opposed to the Infatuation immunity given by Oblivious, which is nice but extremely situational. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? Lickitung gains no extra moves for delaying its evolution, so you should evolve it as soon as it learns Rollout, which would preferably be before the battle against Jasmine, if you caught it in the Safari Zone, or against Clair, if you caught it on Route 44. * How good is the Lickitung line in a Nuzlocke? * Weaknesses: Fighting * Resistances: None * Immunities: Ghost * Neutralities: Bug, Dark, Dragon, Electric, Fire, Flying, Ghost, Ground, Ice, Normal, Poison, Psychic, Rock, Steel, Water Category:HeartGold/SoulSilver Category:To be reviewed